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Poverty Manifesto By Smiley And Cornel West

1267 Words6 Pages

In April 2012, news organization Democracy Now! interviewed authors Travis Smiley and Cornel West about their book about poverty in America called The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. They published their book a few years after the Great Recession in 2008 and a few months after the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations against economic inequality. In 2012, Barack Obama was also seeking reelection for the presidency against Republican candidate Mitt Romney. One of the core critiques of their book is that politicians and the government are not doing enough to address poverty in America and that society’s attitudes towards the issue as a whole needs to change. They also argue that poverty is a critical issue in society and one that goes …show more content…

In Smiley and West’s interview they heavily criticize both candidates for their deprioritization of poverty in their platforms and policies. They argue that poverty is a critical issue in any federal election because a largely impoverished population threatens America’s national security and democracy. The last time that the federal government put forth any large effort to fight poverty was President LBJ’s War on Poverty. Since that policy, no president has used their executive power to establish a commission entirely dedicated to eradicating poverty. Smiley and West believe that this is not because the government does not have the knowledge or capability to do so, but because it is not a political priority for those in …show more content…

Smiley and West frequently reference Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech on the Vietnam War which criticizes the American government for using the war as a diversion from domestic issues. They commend King for his courage to explicitly address the government’s shortcomings and state that “War is the enemy of the poor.” American intervention abroad can benefit the White Agenda because the government can project an image of a White Savior furthering democracy and freedoms in tyrannical states. On the other hand the image of America’s success is tainted by the legacy of poverty in this country, and to even address the problem would be an admittance of its

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And, to argue that King 's most radical days were never fulfilled; that his next campaign was to confront the president over the Vietnam War and economic disparity, “a direct confrontation with a president over an immoral war” state Hill and Wang from the book review. Although a limitation is that in almost every book about Martin Luther King including this one, only describe King’s successes and not all the failures. This occurs because the authors do not want to portray a bad image about a good man, but it is very important for us to know these failures so that we can learn and not have to understand why King did specific things, plus this topic is one of the most important events in U.S. history that’s why we need to know exactly what happened especially its when its going to remembered for many years to

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Out of the many problems we have in the world today, one main problems is poverty. Poverty has been around for thousands of years now, and people began to fight it as early as the 1960s. When Lyndon B. Johnson became president, he took it upon himself to fight poverty by creating the Great Society Plan. In the plan, many new programs and jobs were created to assist Americans living in poverty and to help improve their lifestyles. President Johnson’s Great Society Plan improved many poversed Americans lives by helping them obtain an education, find a job to provide for their families, and helping them with medical funds.

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In the article "Beyond Vietnam", Martin Luther argues that war in Vietnam has far reaching affects that not only rapaciously take away America's resources, but make an immediate impact on African Americans perspective on the civil rights movement. Luther starts off by explaining that Vietnam heavily takes away valuable money of the US. Because of this, he argues,"America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor". More specifically, using

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Throughout the first paragraph of King’s speech, he used emotional diction with words such as struggle, poverty, and poor to prove that the war in Vietnam was bringing down the American’s and their families fighting overseas. King proved this partly with the quote, “America would never invest the necessary funds… in the rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued…” (King, Beyond, 9). King was establishing his point that America was more troubled about healing and adjusting other countries, but would never invest the same in their own country. He was in the process of proving that it wasn 't a money issue in America, but an equality issue.

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In The working poor by David K shipler writes about the real poverty in America that many forget about. In The working poor by David K Shipler, writes about the many factors that separate the working poor from well being. Shipler starts of by stating the traits that are needed to be successful in America. Some for example, a well paying job, high self esteem, good connections and many more.

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In the article “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich gives her view in poverty and explains why she think Michael Harington’s book “The Other American” gives a wrong view on poverty. She explained that Harrington believes that the poor thought and felt differently and what divides the poor was their different “culture of poverty.” Ehrenreich goes on to explain on how the book that became a best seller caused so many bad stereotypes on the poor that by the Reagan era poverty was seen as “bad attitudes” and “faulty lifestyles” and not by the lack of jobs or low paying jobs. And they also viewed the poor as “Dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification,” or possibly even set an alarm clock.”

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Dr. King feels that he cannot speak against violence being used in the ghettos without having protested the greatest use of violence, “[his] own government.” (Paragraph 3). Dr. King uses specificity such as “Molotov cocktails and rifles” (Paragraph 3) to create a vivid image of the violence that has occurred in his own nation. Dr. King made this speech to address the violence going on in the Vietnam War.

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Martin Luther King Jr. stated that that there was hope for poor -black and white- people through the poverty program. People had new beginnings but the program became broken. The society had gone mad due to the war. Due to the money America had Vietnam continued to suck people and skills in. Therefore King Jr. was forced to see the war as an enemy.

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Martin Luther King Junior in his speech at Riverside Baptist Church said “There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube.

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Poverty has become a big societal problem that it has become a major topic in political debates. Politicians have been debating on the best course of action to solving the poverty problem. Former President Lyndon B Johnson understood that poverty was a problem and it needed to be addressed. The Former President Lyndon B. Johnson believed that society has a responsibility for its citizens. He declared War on Poverty in 1964.

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Martin Luther King Jr. made a connection between poverty and the Vietnam War in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech. He argued that the resources being poured into the war effort were exacerbating poverty and social injustice in the United States. Dr. King pointed out that the war was diverting funds that could have been used to address pressing domestic issues, such as poverty, healthcare, and education. He saw the war as a reflection of skewed priorities, where the government was investing in war abroad while neglecting the needs of its own people, especially those living in poverty. Dr. King's emphasis on the link between poverty and the Vietnam War highlighted his commitment to addressing the interrelated nature of social justice issues and advocating for comprehensive solutions that prioritized the well-being of all people, both at home and

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Always has it been, and always shall it be, and it is for this exact reason that King sees wars “as an enemy of the poor” and he “attacks it as such.” From what King has told, a few years prior to Vietnam, the promise of a poverty program gave hope to myriads of Americans for the first time in a long time. However, everything changed when the Fire Nation, America, attacked Vietnam. King “watched this program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war. " King compares the poverty program to a toy because he feels that his government treats it as such; the poverty program is not being taken seriously enough.

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Martin Luther King Jr., a preacher by calling, has his own moral vision to attract Vietnam which had a Vietnam War, involved American. He compelled and claimed that American’s involvement in the Vietnam War isn’t fair-unjust. The poverty program was a promise of hope for the poor, included experiments, hopes and new beginnings as well. It was very incandescent moment, but it was broken and failed. He watched it, and recognized that America didn’t have any ambitious to invest or to help the poor.

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“ We have fought war on poverty and poverty won”, is one of the most famously quotes of Ronald Regan. The meaning behind this quote is that America has been struggling to overcome poverty over years, but as years keeps increasing so do the number of people living poor. The percentage in poverty did decrease in 2000 but today it still affects 15 million people. According to Peter Edelman’s article “ Poverty In America: Why Cant We End It”, there are four reasons why America has not achieved to decrease the number of poverty: Low- wage jobs, households headed by single parent, welfare, and gender/ race. The plan that America has to improve this number of 15 million is by providing food stamps, enacting programs, and social security.

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